Flight Safety Information
April 26, 2012 - No. 084
In This Issue
Australian, S.African die in Indonesia plane crash
Bankruptcy means closer scrutiny for Pinnacle, FAA safety chief says
Pakistan begins aircraft inspections after Bhoja Air crash
PRISM CERTIFICATION CONSULTANTS
Airport screeners arrested; authorities say they allowed drug smuggling
Puppy escapes crate, scampers around NYC airport runway
Cessna suspends Skycatcher sales in Europe
Australian, S.African die in Indonesia plane crash
JAKARTA (AFP) - A South African pilot and his Australian passenger were killed when
their Susi Air plane crashed in central Indonesia, officials said Thursday, in the airline's
third fatal accident in a year.
They were the only people on board the Pilatus PC-6 aircraft, which was carrying the
Australian photographer on a chartered flight, the airline's operations director Christian
Strombeck told AFP.
"The plane crashed Wednesday at around 5:30 pm local time (0930 GMT), and the
bodies were found at around 1:30 am Thursday," he said. Another official had initially
said the plane crashed at 1:30 am.
"The Pilatus PC-6 aircraft was flying in East Kalimantan to do some aerial photography
when it crashed," Strombeck added.
The airline identified the pilot as Jonathan James Willis, 28, and Indonesian officials
identified the passenger as Ian McDougall. The Australian government said he was 57.
"The passenger in the airplane sent a text message to his office in Jakarta, more or less
saying 'there is a fuel problem, we will try to make an emergency landing on a village
road'," Strombeck said.
"We estimate that the plane crashed two or three minutes after they sent the message,"
he said.
The plane crashed about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the remote village of Muara Ritan
in Kutai Kartanegara district on the island of Borneo, according to the airline and
government officials.
"The aircraft crashed at the edge of a ravine," said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman
for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.
The airline said it was investigating the crash and grounding its six remaining single-
engine Pilatus aircraft until further notice.
"We still don't know how it could have been a fuel problem. The fuel tank was full and it
was supposed to last for seven hours. We don't want to speculate at this point,"
Strombeck said, adding the plane had flown for five hours.
Susi Air is a small domestic airline that operates mostly Cessna Grand Caravan planes, a
few smaller Pilatus planes and other aircraft. Many of its flights are to remote and
difficult regions.
In November, one of the company's Cessnas crashed while trying to land in Indonesia's
remote Papua region, killing a Spanish pilot.
Another of its aircraft crashed in September in Papua province, killing an Australian and
Slovakian pilot.
"It's not easy to deal with an accident like this," the airline's owner Susi Pudjiastuti told
reporters in Jakarta after the latest crash.
"Sometimes I ask myself whether I should continue (flying to difficult areas) or quit,"
she said.
The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands relies on air transport to reach
remote areas and has a poor aviation safety record.
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Bankruptcy means closer scrutiny for Pinnacle, FAA safety chief says
WASHINGTON - Federal aviation safety inspectors are paying closer attention to Pinnacle
Airlines now that the struggling regional carrier has filed for
bankruptcy, the Federal Aviation Administration's top safety official said Wednesday.
The FAA routinely beefs up safety inspections once any passenger airline enters
bankruptcy, Margaret Gilligan, the FAA's associate administrator for safety, said at a
House Aviation Subcommittee hearing.
"We enhance our oversight to focus on any changes they may have to make as they
downsize," Gilligan said.
Gilligan's comments came in response to a question from the panel's chairman, Rep.
Tom Petri, R-Wis., who cited the Pinnacle bankruptcy when asking: "Are people cutting
corners because of their financial situation?"
In response, Gilligan not only pointed to the FAA's increased oversight of bankrupt
carriers, but also said: "It's clear that the industry thinks that an investment in
safety is an important business investment."
The hearing was a wide-ranging look at aviation safety three years and two months after
the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Clarence Center, which claimed 50
lives. A commuter airline owned by Pinnacle, Colgan Air, operated Flight 3407.
As usual at such Capitol Hill sessions, a red-clad group from the Families of Continental
Flight 3407 attended the hearing, where lawmakers reviewed the FAA's progress in
implementing the sweeping aviation safety law the families pushed to passage two years
ago.
That proposal will require commercial airline co-pilots to have an air transport license by
August 2013. That means many regional airline pilots will have to undergo additional
training and amass 1,500 hours of experience to qualify.
At two regional airlines studied by the Department of Transportation's inspector general,
75 percent of the co-pilots did not have an air transport license- and the airlines had no
plan to help them get one, said Jeffrey B. Guzzetti, assistant inspector general.
Members of the families group said they were concerned about the problems that
regional airlines might have in complying with those new requirements. But they also
said they were concerned that a new rule on pilot fatigue, which requires commercial
airline pilots to get more rest, will not apply to pilots who fly for cargo airlines.
The families back legislation authored by Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-Minn., and Rep. Tim
Bishop, D-N. Y., that would extend the tougher rest standards to cargo pilots.
But that proposal met stiff opposition from Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., who lost a battle
with the Flight 3407 families last spring in which he tried to make it harder for the FAA
to impose new regulations.
"Are we going to get to the point where we have sleep or rest police, or a camera in a
pilot's room?" Shuster asked in questioning the need for increased pilot rest
requirements.
Shuster's comments did not sit well with the Flight 3407 families, given that pilot error
led to that crash and that neither pilot had proper bed rest the night before the accident.
"Let's see how he feels about this if some cargo planes lands on some of the homes in
his district," said Kenneth Mellett, whose son Coleman was killed in the crash.
http://www.buffalonews.com/business/article828660.ece
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Pakistan begins aircraft inspections after Bhoja Air crash
Inspections of all aircraft operated by privately owned Pakistani carriers are being carried
out after the crash of a Boeing 737-200 operated by Bhoja Air on 20 April.
The "shake down" inspection involves aircraft selected at random or offered by the
airlines for checks, says a Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan (CAAP) official. The
inspection will also cover aircraft maintenance activities.
State-owned Pakistan International Airlines is not subject to increased scrutiny, with the
official indicating that its aircraft had been examined prior to the "unfortunate incident".
No timeline has been given for completion of the inspections, which the official says is
primarily aimed at giving the Pakistani public an "extra confidence level" in the safety of
the country's carriers.
Private Pakistani airlines such as Airblue, Rayyan Air, Shaheen Air International and
Bhoja Air operate a total of 26 passenger aircraft, according to Flightglobal ACAS data.
These comprise five Airbus A320-family aircraft, 17 Boeing 737s - both older Classics
and NGs - one Boeing MD-90 and three Boeing 747-200s.
Meanwhile, Pakistani search and rescue teams have recovered the flight data recorder
and cockpit voice recorder from the debris of the 737-200 involved in the crash, and
handed them over to the CAAP.
All 121 passengers and six crew members on board died in the incident, which took
place about four miles from the capital's Benazir Bhutto International airport while the
aircraft was on a scheduled service from Karachi.
There was bad weather with heavy rain and a low cloud ceiling at the time of the
incident, although the head of the CAAP was quoted in local newspapers as saying that
another aircraft landed safely five minutes before the crash.
The 737-200 (AP-BKC) was a 1984-built airframe, previously operated by British Airways
and Comair. Bhoja Air bought the Pratt & Whitney JT8D-powered 737 in January 2012
and it entered service with the airline on 3 March. The Karachi-based airline resumed
operations that month, having suspended services for several years because of financial
difficulties.
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/pakistan-begins-aircraft-inspections-after-
bhoja-air-crash-371168/
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Airport screeners arrested; authorities say they allowed drug smuggling
Two former and two current airport security screeners were arrested this week on
federal charges of drug trafficking and bribery for smuggling large bundles of cocaine
and other illegal drugs through security checkpoints at Los Angeles International Airport
in exchange for cash, authorities said.
In a 22-count indictment unsealed Wednesday, Justice Department officials said the
screeners for the Transportation Security Administration took payments of up to $2,400
to help drug couriers pass suitcases through X-ray machines at security checkpoints.
"The allegations in this case describe a significant breakdown of the screening system
through the conduct of individuals who placed greed above the nation's security needs,"
U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said in a statement.
In addition to the TSA officials, one drug courier is in state custody in California and
another is expected to surrender tomorrow, authorities said. They are continuing to
search for a third courier.
The 40-page indictment lays out five incidents in which the screeners took cash
payments.
In one incident, screeners schemed to allow about eight pounds of methamphetamine to
pass through security, then went to an airport restroom where they were handed $600,
the second half of the payment for that delivery, according to prosecutors.
Briane Grey, acting special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in
Los Angeles, said the scheme was particularly reprehensible because it took place at
LAX.
"The defendants traded on their positions at one the world's most crucial airport security
checkpoints, used their special access for criminal ends, and compromised the safety and
security of their fellow citizens for their own profit," Grey said in a statement.
The indicted screeners are Naral Richardson, 30, and Joy White, 27, who were both fired
by TSA last year; and John Whitfield, 23, and Capeline McKinney, 25, both currently
employed as screeners. All four have been taken into custody.
The accused drug couriers are Duane Eleby, 28, who is expected to surrender, and Terry
Cunningham and Stephen Bayliss, both 28, who are at large.
If convicted, the employees face a minimum of 10 years in federal prison.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/airport-screeners-arrested-
authorities-say-they-allowed-drug-smuggling/2012/04/25/gIQAPUEfhT_blog.html
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Puppy escapes crate, scampers around NYC airport runway, delaying flights
before caught
NEW YORK (AP) - A puppy named Byrdie delayed several flights at New York's LaGuardia
Airport when she escaped from her crate and frolicked around a busy runway.
The Port Authority says the 30-pound Rhodesian ridgeback scampered around the
runway for about 10 minutes on Wednesday while authorities unsuccessfully tried to
collar her.
The agency says they had to find the pooch's owner aboard the Memphis-bound Delta
Air Lines Airbus to help catch it.
The owner was brought out on to the runway. She called out to the 14-month-old pup
and she came running to her.
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Cessna suspends Skycatcher sales in Europe
Cessna Aircraft Co. has temporarily halted Skycatcher sales in Europe, pending
certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency, but company officials pledged the
two-seater will be sold in Europe though there is no telling when.
A French dealership caused a stir with an announcement posted in conjunction with the
return of deposits to would-be buyers. Cessna has been working in recent days to
downplay the long-term significance of those refunds."This is just a step we are taking to
make sure we maintain a positive relationship with the Skycatcher customer," the
company stated. "It's impossible to gauge how long certification will take, and we don't
want a procedure that is beyond our control to affect our relationship with our
customers."
The Skycatcher, a light sport aircraft by FAA definition, has been produced under the
ASTM International standards for the U.S. market, a system that eases the testing and
validation burden imposed by government regulators on manufacturers under the
certification process. European regulators opted to impose certification requirements.
"Cessna is working with the EASA to certify the Cessna 162 Skycatcher, and we are
striving to find an economical solution that benefits our customers and satisfies EASA
standards," Cessna reported. "We will recommence accepting orders when we are clear
on a path towards cost effective certification from EASA."
http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2012/120426cessna-suspends-skycatcher-sales-
in-europe.html
Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI
CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC